Posted on 20th February 2013 by Reinhard Siedel
Get ready. The world’s largest mobile industry event of the year will be taking place this month, on February 25-28, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain.
Last year more than 67,000 industry professionals attended, and it is expected that this year’s event will draw an even larger crowd. So much so in fact, that the show venue has moved from its former site at Fira Montjuïc to a new state-of-the-art facility just down the road at Fira Gran Via. The new site boasts 240,000 square meters of space under one roof, which is 50% larger than the previous location.
There are many tech-savvy analysts predicting what the main trends and new products will be at this year’s Mobile World Congress. In a recent article, Forrester analyst Thomas Husson used MWC 2013 as an opportunity to revisit the company’s predictions about mobile marketing trends.
I found that two of the article’s key takeaways struck me as critical for SMS marketers:
1) Advanced Marketers Will Integrate Mobile Into A Multiyear Strategic Vision
Mobile platforms will act as a catalyst for the next generation of connected experiences. In particular, smart apps connected to products and CRM systems will emerge. In 2013, leading marketers will anticipate the longer-term mobile disruption and shift from tactical efforts to more transformative mobile strategies.
This is important. If you haven’t yet integrated mobile into your strategy for connecting with customers, SMS is a great place for you to start.
2) It Is Still Early Days: Some Hyped Mobile Trends Will Disappoint
Indoor location, cross-channel attribution, responsive design, automated mobile marketing and targeting solutions, mobile “big data,” and other mobile technologies will make progress, but they won’t be game-changers this year.
There are many options, but SMS is proven and it works great in conjunction with these other technologies. If you are not using SMS messaging, you should!
There will be plenty of other new products and technologies introduced at the show. Even if you can’t make it all the way to Spain for this exciting event, you can stay connected by logging in each day to the of Mobile World Congress website or to their online broadcast service, Mobile World Live.
